Dear Heart (Andy Williams Album)

''Andy Williams' Dear Heart'' is the sixteenth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released in the spring of 1965 by Columbia Records and was the last of his Columbia releases that remained exclusively within the realm of traditional pop. After covering two Beatles hits on his next non-holiday studio album, ''The Shadow of Your Smile'', he would try out samba music on '' In the Arms of Love'', aim for a much younger crowd with " Music to Watch Girls By" on ''Born Free'', and focus more on contemporary material on subsequent albums.

This album made its first appearance on ''Billboard'' magazine's Top LP's chart in the issue dated April 10 of that year and remained on the album chart for 65 weeks, peaking at number four. The name of the album was changed to ''Andy Williams' Almost There'' for its release in the UK, where it became Williams's first album chart entry, spending 46 weeks there and peaking at number four. (Two of his previous albums, ''Days of Wine and Roses and Other TV Requests''—which was retitled ''Can't Get Used to Losing You and Other Requests'' for its UK release—and ''The Great Songs from "My Fair Lady" and Other Broadway Hits'', appeared on the album chart in the UK following the success of this album.)

''Andy Williams' Dear Heart'' received Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America on July 30, 1965. This was Williams's sixth album to receive this award as well as the one to do so the fastest thus far in terms of the amount of time between chart debut and certification, having accomplished this feat in less than four months as compared to the previous recordholder, ''Days of Wine and Roses and Other TV Requests'', which did so in five months. Type ''Andy Williams'' in the Search box and press ''Enter''.

Williams's acting role in the 1964 film ''I'd Rather Be Rich'' included a performance of the original song " Almost There", which makes its first album appearance here. As the B-side of "On the Street Where You Live" (the single from his last album), "Almost There" debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the issue of the magazine dated November 14, 1964, eventually reaching number 67 during its five-week stay.. It performed even better on the Easy Listening (or Adult Contemporary) chart, going as high as number 12 during its four weeks there.. The song's biggest success was in the UK, where it spent three weeks at number two during a 17-week run on the singles chart. This album's A-side, "Dear Heart", written for the 1964 Glenn Ford/Geraldine Page movie of the same name, debuted on the pop and Easy Listening charts just two weeks later and spent 11 weeks on each of them, peaking at number 24 on the Hot 100 and spending a week at number two Easy Listening.

The album was released on compact disc for the first time as one of two albums on one CD by Collectables Records on March 23, 1999, the other album being Williams's Columbia release from May 1966, ''The Shadow of Your Smile''. The CD was included in a box set entitled ''Classic Album Collection, Vol. 1'', which contains 17 of his studio albums and three compilations and was released on June 26, 2001.

Reception

Allmusic's William Ruhlmann liked the album: "Williams applied his usual warm, smooth vocal style to all the songs, with string-filled arrangements that emphasized the melodies." He also described the LP as "a well-assembled collection of contemporary material in what had become Williams's patented style."

''Billboard'' magazine felt that Williams "performed in his inimitable rich, warm style" and asserted that his "interpretations of 'I'm All Smiles' and 'Who Can I Turn To?' are outstanding."

Track listing

Side one

# "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" (Roy C. Bennett, Roy Brodsky, Sid Tepper) – 2:27
# " It Had to Be You" (Isham Jones, Gus Kahn) – 2:41
# "I Can't Stop Loving You" (Don Gibson) – 2:27
# "Till" (Charles Danvers, Carl Sigman) – 3:05
# "I'm All Smiles" (Michael Leonard, Herbert Martin) – 2:25
# "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)" from ''The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd'' (Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley) – 2:24

Side two

# "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You" (James Cavanaugh, Russ Morgan, Larry Stock) – 2:37
# " Emily" from ''The Americanization of Emily'' (Johnny Mandel, Johnny Mercer) – 2:22
# " Almost There" from ''I'd Rather Be Rich'' (Jerry Keller, Gloria Shayne) – 2:59
# "My Carousel" (Kenny Rankin, Yvonne Rankin) – 2:28
# "Everybody Loves Somebody" (Sam Coslow, Ken Lane, Irving Taylor) – 3:05
# "Dear Heart" from ''Dear Heart'' (Ray Evans, Jay Livingston, Henry Mancini) – 2:55

Personnel

From the liner notes for the original album:

*Andy Williams – vocals
*Robert Mersey – arranger, conductor, producer
*Don Heckman – liner notes
*Frank Bez – cover photo

References

Bibliography

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1965 albums
Andy Williams albums
Columbia Records albums